


A World Of Silence

by JTxBojan



Category: One Direction, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Deaf Character, Established Relationship, M/M, request
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-21
Updated: 2012-10-21
Packaged: 2017-11-16 18:45:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/542663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JTxBojan/pseuds/JTxBojan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It’s terrible, not being able to hear anything. Not even the loudest of noises. Not even that annoying ringing that appears in your ears sometimes. Nothing. Nothing at all. Even if it’s just for a small period of time, not being able to hear a single thing is horrible. Then imagine how not being able to hear a single thing ever feels like. Imagine how being locked in a completely silent world for the rest of your life feels like. It’s one of the most terrible feelings in the world. Louis Tomlinson can vouch for that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A World Of Silence

**Author's Note:**

> This was requested by an anon on Tumblr, from where this has been re-posted.

It’s terrible, not being able to hear anything. Not even the loudest of noises. Not even that annoying ringing that appears in your ears sometimes. Nothing. Nothing at all. Even if it’s just for a small period of time, not being able to hear a single thing is horrible. Then imagine how not being able to hear a single thing ever feels like. Imagine how being locked in a completely silent world for the rest of your life feels like. It’s one of the most terrible feelings in the world. Louis Tomlinson can vouch for that. 

Being born deaf was probably different. If you were born deaf, living in a world of silence would be something you’d always been used to. But if you were born with a perfect ability to hear, and you had spent about 19 years being able to hear everything, having that ability taken from you was absolutely horrendous. 

How he had lost his ability to hear wasn’t something Louis wanted to think about. As far as he was concerned, it just happened one day and that was that. But it sucked. It really, truly sucked that Louis no longer to hear anything. It killed him that he could no longer sing with his mates because he couldn’t hear his own voice. It killed him that he could no longer join in on his mates’ conversations without them having to write down what they were saying for him, or have Liam sign it to him. And it absolutely killed him that he could no longer hear the voice of the man he loved so much, whether he was singing or just talking. Yeah, the fact that he couldn’t hear Harry’s voice anymore was what devastated Louis the most.

Being deaf was also making it more difficult to live with his boyfriend. Louis had known sign language since he was a child because his best friend was deaf, but Harry had no idea how to use it. So the communication between them was limited to them both having to write down what they wanted to say. Louis was trying to teach himself how to read lips, but it was difficult and it was going to take a lot of time. 

Louis sighed, running a hand through his own hair before checking the time. The rest of the boys had released their very first single just a few hours ago, so Harry should be home soon. 

It had taken all of Louis’ strength to not cry when Harry had left that morning. It hurt him so much that he wouldn’t be able to hear their first ever single. He didn’t know the melody, or the lyrics. He only knew that the title was “What Makes You Beautiful” and he was sure it was amazing. That’s why it hurt so much that he would never be able to hear it.

The second Harry had closed the door behind himself Louis had burst into tears, and he had been crying ever since. He was surprised he wasn’t all out of tears by now as he sat on the couch, his elbows resting on his knees as he hid his face in his hands as he cried. He was sobbing, and the fact that he couldn’t hear himself was a bit of a relief. Louis hated to hear himself cry, so at least something good came out of being deaf. 

Suddenly a hand touched Louis’ shoulder and Louis jumped in shock, turning his head and breathing a sigh of relief as he saw Harry sitting on the couch next to him. That was another thing that sucked about being deaf; he couldn’t hear it when someone came into the room, so he didn’t have the time to collect himself and stop himself from crying before anyone caught him. 

Harry’s eyes were sad as he looked at Louis, who was wiping furiously at his tears. Louis groaned in frustration as the tears didn’t stop, and the fact that he couldn’t hear his own groan only made the tears stream faster down his cheeks. 

Harry reached out and pushed Louis’ hands away from his face before cupping Louis’ face and leaned in, kissing him deeply. Louis clenched his eyes shut as his hands fisted themselves desperately in Harry’s shirt as he kissed him back, the tears still pouring down his face. Harry kissed him and kissed him and kissed him until Louis’ tears were finally starting to disappear and when they pulled back for air, Louis could see that Harry was gasping slightly for air. 

Louis waited for Harry to catch his breath and when Harry finally seemed to be breathing normally, Louis reached out to grab the pen and paper from the coffee table, but Harry stopped him by taking a hold of his hands. Louis looked at Harry in surprise, who merely shook his head at him. 

Gently, Harry pushed Louis back into the couch and Louis lifted his legs and crossed them as he looked at Harry in question. Harry then smiled, lifted his hands and started to sign. 

“ _You’re insecure, don’t know what for. You turn heads when you walk through the door…_ ”

Louis blinked his eyes in surprise as he watched Harry sign the words perfectly. 

“ _Don’t need make-up to cover up. Being the way that you are is enough…_ ”

Louis’ eyes were fixed on Harry’s hands, watching as they signed words that made perfect sense, but at the same time made Louis confused because he didn’t understand why Harry was signing those words.

“ _Everyone else in the room can see it. Everyone else but you…_ ”

Lifting his gaze from Harry’s hands to his eyes for a moment, Louis sent him a confused look. Harry just smiled and continued to sign.

“ _Baby, you light up my world like nobody else. The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed. But when you smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell you don’t know, you don’t know you’re beautiful…_ ”

Raising an eyebrow, Louis momentarily looked into Harry’s eyes. Harry shook his head, motioning for Louis to keep looking at his hands.

“ _If only you saw what I can see, you’ll understand why I want you so desperately. Right now I’m looking at you and I can’t believe you don’t know, you don’t know you’re beautiful. That’s what makes you beautiful…_ ”

Louis’ eyes widened as he suddenly realised that Harry was signing the lyrics to their first single, and his heart skipped a beat in his chest.

Harry smiled at the sudden realisation in Louis’ eyes and he shifted closer to Louis on the couch before he continued to sign the second verse.

“ _So come on, you’ve got it wrong. To prove I’m right I put it in a song. I don’t know why you’re being shy and turn away when I look into your eyes…_ ”

Louis bit his lip as he continued to stare at Harry’s hands, completely hypnotised by them.

“ _Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you… Baby, you light up my world like nobody else. The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed. But when you smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell you don’t know, you don’t know you’re beautiful… If only you saw what I can see, you’ll understand why I want you so desperately. Right now I’m looking at you and I can’t believe you don’t know, you don’t know you’re beautiful. That’s what makes you beautiful…_ ”

Louis could feel that his eyes were tearing up as Harry continued to sign. He might not be able to hear the song or the melody, but he was now being signed the lyrics and it was more than Louis could have ever hoped for.

“ _Baby, you light up my world like nobody else. The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed. But when you smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell you don’t know, you don’t know you’re beautiful… Baby, you light up my world like nobody else. The way that you flip your hair gets me overwhelmed. But when you smile at the ground it ain’t hard to tell you don’t know, you don’t know you’re beautiful… If only you saw what I can see, you’ll understand why I want you so desperately. Right now I’m looking at you and I can’t believe you don’t know, you don’t know you’re beautiful. That’s what makes you beautiful…_ ”

As Harry finished and let his hands drop to his lap, tears were once again streaming down Louis’ face, but Harry could tell that these were happy tears. Reaching out, Harry let his fingertips brush gently against Louis’ thigh as Louis took a few deep breaths to compose himself before he met Harry’s eyes.

“ _It’s beautiful._ ” Louis signed, watching as a soft smile spread across Harry’s face.

“ _You’re beautiful._ ” Harry signed back and Louis failed to hold back a small smile of his own.

“ _Since when do you know sign language?_ ” Louis wanted to know, curiosity apparent in his eyes as he gazed at Harry.

“ _I’ve been learning ever since… You know. I didn’t want to show you until I was absolutely sure I was doing everything right. Now we don’t have to use pen and paper to communicate anymore._ ” Harry signed, before using his hands to reach up and gently frame Louis’ face, using his thumbs to very gently wipe away the tears from Louis’ cheeks. 

Louis instantly leaned into his touch and gazed deep into Harry’s green eyes, using his own hands to gently tangle in Harry’s shirt. Taking a deep breath, Louis did what he hadn’t tried to do since he lost his ability to hear: Speak.

“I love you…” He said, softly, and the sound of Louis’ beautiful voice made Harry’s eyes widen in surprise. Louis hadn’t wanted to speak because he was afraid his own voice would sound terrible as he wasn’t able to hear it himself, and Harry had missed his voice just as much as Louis had missed Harry’s. 

Harry’s eyes suddenly started to tear up and Louis instantly panicked.

“ _What’s wrong? Do I sound horrible?_ ” Louis frantically signed, his heart pounding almost violently in his chest. Harry shook his head and grabbed Louis’ wrists for a moment, gently placing Louis’ hands in his lap.

“ _You sound beautiful as always. You sound like my Louis._ ” Harry signed and a sense of relief shot through Louis’ body at that and he nodded his head. Harry smiled.

“ _I love you too._ ” He signed, and Louis could tell that he also spoke the words as he was able to read them on Harry’s lips. As his eyes once again started to tear up slightly, Louis leaned in and pressed his lips lovingly against Harry’s. Harry kissed him back and Louis could feel Harry smile against his own lips.

And in that moment Louis realised that living in a world of silence didn’t matter. As long as he had Harry, everything would be okay.


End file.
